Daily archives: May 7, 2018

Hey everyone! Here’s what happened at today’s GSM. As usual, the video recording of the public portion is available here.

New Administrator!

Immediately before the GSM was an Administrative Staff Meeting (ASM), at which we confirmed the promotion of CynraSilver (formerly known as mfish125 or mikefishr). He’ll be getting set up in the next few days, so please give him a warm welcome to the administrator role!

A reminder of The Most Important Rule #3

We have noticed a few cases of players getting into arguments with staff in public chat. We would therefore like to remind everyone of The Most Important Rule #3:

Staff reserve the right to take appropriate action for behaviour or actions deemed unacceptable for the server and community.

If you disagree with a decision made by a staff member, or are having difficulty working with them, please contact the admins. Part of the admins’ role is to help resolve disputes that involve staff members. Moderators have also been instructed to escalate conflicts to admins if necessary.

Policy Changes

We are making two changes to server policy, effective immediately.

First, we are amending the warning policy. Specifically, players who receive two concurrent single warnings or one double warning must submit a written reflection statement to the admins in order to get their original rank restored, in addition to waiting for the warnings to expire (30 or 60 days). The statement should include details of what you did to get the warning(s), an acknowledgement that this was the wrong thing to do, and a confirmation that you won’t repeat your actions. Statements must be emailed to the admins and are a requirement to getting your rank back following a demotion to [Member].

Second, we are amending the proximity rule as follows:

The current “300-block” rule will stand: If you want to build within 300 blocks of another town, you must get permission from the town’s mayor. Mayors can deny permission at their discretion to towns within 300 blocks.

We are adding a “500-block rule”: If you want to build within 500 blocks of another town, but more than 300 blocks away, you must be in contact with your neighbors, and they must accommodate you in a fair and reasonable manner. This means that you should collaborate with towns nearby to draw borders and determine which space is whose. Prospective mayors who don’t get in touch with their neighbors may be issued warnings or have their towns removed.

You do not need to submit your border agreements to staff, though we do suggest forming them in writing so that everyone is aware of the agreements and can hold each other accountable.

Staff are happy to help determine what “fair and reasonable” accommodations look like. If you have questions, ask!

So, to recap:

If you’re building within 300 blocks of another town, you must have that mayor’s permission.

If you’re building between 301 and 500 blocks away from another town, you must be in touch with the other mayor and let them know of your presence, and they must accommodate you in a fair and reasonable manner.

If you’re building 501 or more blocks away, no permission or contact is needed, though you should still get in touch if you plan on expanding towards a nearby town.

If in doubt, please ask for permission from the mayor before building. Most are willing to work with you. If you run into trouble, please ask staff for assistance.

Plugin Changes and the Citizens Update

We will be bringing the Citizens Update – featuring Citizens, DiscordSRV, and VPNGuard – to the main server this week. Our current plan is to perform this update on Wednesday, May 9, between 5pm and 7pm UTC. During this time, both the main server and the beta server will be whitelisted to staff only.

Some proposed new plugin changes have been denied:

A proposal to grant non-staff access to two WorldEdit tools has been denied as it could grant players access to restricted blocks or areas of the server, including placing blocks beyond the world border.

A proposal to add the JourneyMap Server plugin has been denied as it would only benefit a few players (though if more folks do use JourneyMap, we may consider adding this plugin later on).

Premier City Reviews: Quiris

Quiris, the city by _HeavenAngel_ in the northern portion of the world, has been promoted to Premier! This is the tenth Premier city, recognising how far Quiris has come in its development. Congratulations!

_HeavenAngel_ submitted the following speech after the GSM:

My time on the server has been a genuine journey. I have had my fair share of ups and downs, just like everyone else but through it all, I can say that it has been an exhilarating journey. I would like to thank the most wonderful community, for their continuous support and in particular Kel, the staff and the many others who have contributed to the establishment of Quiris. Personally, Quiris is more than a rank to me, it is the embodiment of my inspirations, therefore, there is no doubt that I shall continue to work on the city. I have hope that Quiris will perpetuate my inspirations and that there will be many other premiers cities to come fourth. I would like to end off by wishing each and every member of the community the very best. Thank you.

And lalaboy, whose city Kessler was promoted to Premier in March, submitted the following speech:

yay I got premier!

Roads

We reviewed three road proposals and approved two:

A proposal for the A61 and B66 south of the Estival Sea has been denied. The proposal called for construction of a very small section that didn’t actually connect any towns together, with a plan of crossing the Estival Sea later. We recommend the road to cross the much narrower gap to the nearby arctic biome, and provide some connection between towns, before being proposed in full later.

A proposal to extend the B54, connecting the A51 and A50 and providing a bypass around Venceslo and Downsview, has been approved.

A proposal to extend the B750, connecting the A76 and A5-W and providing an easier connection between Central City and Espil, has been approved.

Projects and events

We received only one project, from SoaPuffball to build a canal between Nymphalia (EN23) and the Northern Ocean. This proposal has been partially approved: only the eastern portion of the canal can be built.

We also reviewed two events from TalonPlays:

A PVP tournament, to occur in July or August, has been approved.

The MMB Cup (also known as the MRT Golf Association season opener) on May 26 has been approved.

Both of these events have prizes, so we hope you sign up and participate! These events will appear on the Events Calendar as they approach.

Property auctions

We reviewed five requests for property auctions and approved one:

Fairfax-Atlanta Metropolitan Airport (AFX), requested by jphgolf4321 and Narnia17: Transfer denied as the old world is primarily intended for historical preservation. We are declaring that old world assets are ineligible for auction, especially because they don’t count towards town rank status. If you are an owner or caretaker of an old world airport, you can renovate or re-assign gates as needed, but airports can’t expand outside of their footprint and new airports can’t be built on the old world.

C91: Transferred to CynraSilver.

V23: Transfer denied. Aldranster50’s town has expanded towards this station, but it’s just roads and no significant development. If Aldranster adds buildings and significant development, he may request this station again at a future GSM.

NE9 St. Anna: Transfer denied. We received two proposals for this town, but we don’t feel like either prospective mayor would be able to continue the unique style of St. Anna. We may reach out to RedBear47 to see if any plans are in place for the town and if he has a caretaker in mind.